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Farm & Ranchland Conservation 

Why protect western Montana's farm and ranchlands?

  • Community food security.  With rising oil prices, increasing food shortages, and a changing global climate, we need to enhance and retain the ability to feed ourselves, as well as future generations
  • Economic development opportunities.  Markets for locally grown and processed foods are expanding across western Montana, putting more money into the hands of farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.
  • Farmland is finite and irreplaceable.  Only 8% of Missoula County's land base has agriculturally important soils, and much of that lies along the valley floor, directly in the path of development. Many of these farm and ranchlands have already been lost, although no comprehensive inventory exists. We simply cannot manufacture good soil.
  • Efficient use of tax payer dollars.  Agricultural land generates more in local tax revenues than it costs in government services.  On average, for every incoming tax dollar, residential land costs a local government $1.19 to service, while farm and ranchlands cost $0.39.
  • Social, cultural, and historic values.  Working farms and ranches create a sense of place in Missoula County. They are part of our heritage and vital to our legacy.
  • Ecological integrity.  Well-managed agricultural land provides ecosystem services, such as flood control, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and open space.

 

To bolster western Montana's ability to eat close to home, protecting the land that feeds us has never been more important, or more urgent.  While growing markets for local foods and helping beginning farmers access agricultural land, CFAC is also working to comprehensively conserve the lands most viable for farming & ranching in a way that respects the interests of landowners and provides predictability to developers, planners, policy makers, and residents.

 

To find solutions to farm and ranchland conservation, CFAC is:

  • Reviewing & commenting on subdivision proposals and their potential impacts to agriculture.
  • Mapping the lands most viable for farming and ranching.
  • Working to secure conservation tools that will comprehensively protect the agricultural landscape.  Read up on our recommendations to conserve working farm and ranchlands in our report, Losing Ground: The Future of Farms and Food in Missoula County (pdf), which was released on April 7, 2010.  (Click here for the Executive Summary - pdf, which includes a brief description of our recommendations, and here for the Press Release - pdf .)


Subdivision Review 

In 2008 and 2009, CFAC provided written comment and testimony on 25 subdivision proposals regarding their impacts to agriculture, thanks to the twelve highly involved members of our Land Use and Agricultural Viability Committee.  You can read about some of the trends we have seen through reviewing subdivisions in Losing Ground (pdf).

 

Proactive, Comprehensive Conservation

We cannot protect the agricultural landscape as a matrix of working farms and ranches through solely reviewing individual subdivisions, proposal by proposal.  This piecemeal approach is also highly risky and unpredictable for developers, planners, elected officials, and eaters.  CFAC is working to secure policies and tools--both carrots and sticks--that 1) comprehensively protect the most productive agricultural lands; 2) provide predictability for developers, planners, policy makers and consumers; 3) facilitate producers’ access to agricultural land; and 4) respect the interests of agricultural landowners and the equity built into their land.

 

Inventory of Agricultural Lands

CFAC has begun laying the groundwork for a County-wide inventory the the lands most viable for farming and ranching.  The inventory of agricultural lands will identify and prioritize the parcels with the most potential for farming and ranching.  No inventory evaluating the current status of agricultural lands exists, so we do not know which properties remain in good quality, where they are, and how they fit into the larger agricultural landscape.  This data will help inform communities, planners, and elected officials about which types of conservation strategies will most effectively protect the most important farm and ranchlands.

 

Conservation Tools

Over the past few years, CFAC has researched farmland conservation tools that best fit our landscape, political dynamics, and development patters.  We are proud to release Losing Ground (pdf) to share what we have learned about the trends that treaten Missoula County's agricultural legacy, and offer recommendations to inform community dialogue around implementing meaningful solutions.   The report, as well as our systematic comments on subdivisions, serve to further educate elected officials, developers, and other key community leaders around agriculture and growth, as well as advance our agenda to secure comprehensive policies and mechanisms that predictably conserve working farm and ranchlands in Missoula County.

 

Contact

For more information about our farm and ranchland conservation activities or how to get involved, please contact the Land Use Program Coordinator, Paul Hubbard, at pfhubbard@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

 

Click here for a downloadable pdf of the information at right: Food Farms and Future (pdf).

 

Farmland Trends in Missoula County:

  • Agriculture is important to our economy: Missoula County producers sell $7.9 million worth of agricultural products, annually. Missoula County residents spend about $300 million on food each, providing much economic opportunity to expand local markets and keep our dollars circulating through the community.

  • Missoula County is losing its farm and ranchlands: Between 1960 and 2000, the County's population increased 114%. Meanwhile, the acres in agricultural production decreased 34%.  From 1990 to 2005, 15,660 acres were subdivided, most of which was outside the city limits of Missoula.

  • Sprawl unnecessarily threatens the future of farming and ranching: The amount of residential land each person takes up has more than doubled since 1970.  The average new residential lot in Missoula County is now 2.2 acres.

 

Farmland Trends across the United States:

  • Will time run out on some of the world's most productive lands?  America loses two acres of farmland every minute. From 1992 to 1997, more than 6 million acres of agricultural land-an area the size of Maryland-were irreversibly converted to non-farming uses.

  • Fertile (flat) land is more likely to grow houses than marginal soils:  The U.S. is developing the most fertile and productive land 30% faster than unproductive land.

  • Farms that grow for local markets carry the greatest development pressures:  86% of U.S. fruits and vegetables, 63% of dairy products, 39% of meat products, and 35% of grains are produced in urban-influenced areas, right in the path of development.